For the 2022 edition of Ride Clwyd I want to go North to explore routes all the way to the coast and then West into the remote parts of North-Central Wales. Very different from 2021.
First 25miles took me out over the high Halkyn mining and quarry area last week - great scenery relatively near Chester and Broughton - see previous post.
The second 25mile was going to be completely unfamiliar:
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| Looking West |
South out of Dyserth there are good roads rising up to give great views to the West. There's a flat ride across the top part of the Vale of Clwyd and then it gets back to climbing after Henllan. A long ascent with chunks of 10%+ got me over to Plasisaf - Strava link (2.7miles long, 1,000ft gained).
The roads were in excellent condition, many sections of new, super-smooth tarmac well up to Formula 1 standards.
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| 10% climbs out of Henllan |
It was after Llansanan that things got properly serious - the climbing went up to 18% very quickly and stayed that way for a good while - Strava link (2.3miles, 700ft gained).
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| 18% out of Llansanan |
More lumps and bumps after that before eventually emerging onto the remote, windswept moors. Here you really are alone in a massive landscape.
This could be a challenging area in poor weather conditions... Easy riding and very little traffic took me over the Aled Isaf reservoir and then onto the bigger Lyn Aled.
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| Approaching the reservoirs |
For the event we are likely to have a food stop somewhere on the moors so at least there'll be a friendly spot for participants to call in on.
Previous post - the first 25miles
Next post - more remote riding before a return to civilization...